Attachment for dental impression tray



Oct. 20, 1970 I R. L. s'r. HILAIRE v 3,534,475

ATTACHMENT FOR DENTAL IMPRESSION TRAY Filed Aug. 27, 1969 RAYMOND LSIHSLAIRE BY Z6 7W4 ATTORNEY United States Patent C) 3,534,475ATTACHMENT FOR DENTAL IMPRESSION TRAY Raymond Leo St. Hilaire, 170Broadway, Paterson, NJ. 07505 Filed Aug. 27, 1969, Ser. No. 853,331 Int.Cl. A61c 9/00 US. CI. 32-17 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Anattachment for a dental impression tray which supports excess moldingmaterial at the rear edge of the tray and prevents the material frombreaking off and entering the throat of the patient. The attachment hasclaw-like elements which become embedded in the molding material.

In the making of artificial dentures, a first rough impression is madefrom plaster of Paris and from this impression a final impression trayis produced from plastic-like material which fits the mouth of theindividual patient.

In the making of the final dental impression using the final impressiontray and a well-known molding gum-like material, a serious problemarises. As the patient bites into the molding material on the tray, acertain excess amount oozes over the rear edge of the tray and caneasily separate from the main mass and enter the patients throat,causing gagging and choking and even vomiting.

This obviously greatly disturbs the patient and can spoil the entiremolding procedure.

The present invention deals with this problem through the provision of asimple attachment adhesively mounted on the rear edge portion of thefinal impression tray and having claw-like elements which overhang therear edge I of the tray and support the molding material by becomingembedded therein as the material tends to flow from the rear edge of thetray. The attachment prevents the molding material from entering thethroat of the patient very effectively. It is highly economical,sanitary and can be supplied to dentists in rather long sections whichcan be quickly cut to length and applied to the tray at the time of usewhen deemed necessary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES FIG. 1 is a perspective view of adental impression tray attachment embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the attachment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the attachment 5 in the form of along strip cut off in sections of desired length.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the impression tray andattachment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the tray and attachment in assembledrelationship.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the tray and attachment with molding gumthereon.

FIG. 7 is a vertical section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7 of the drawings, a wellknown gum-like molding material 12 is employed With the tray 10 formaking the final impression and when the patient bites, excess moldingmaterial will flow or ooze over the rear edge 13 of the tray in a massshown at 14- in FIGS. 6 and 7. It requires up to three minutes for thismaterial to harden in the patients mouth, and during this timeinterference with the tongue or other reaction may cause the mass 14 tobreak oif from the main body of molding material and enter the patientsthroat causing choking and gagging and sometimes spoiling the moldingprocedure as well as frightening the patient.

The invention proper which has as its sole aim the overcoming of thisannoying problem comprises a body portion or strip 15 of flexiblematerial or tape coated on its lower side 16 with a pressure sensitiveadhesive. Evenly spaced rearwardly projecting curved claw-like elements17, preferably in pairs, are secured to the lower face of the strip 15and may be covered by a second adhesively coated strip 18 of lesserwidth than the strip 15, FIG. 2. The straight portions 19 of theclaw-like elements are thus sandwiched between the adhesive strips 15and 18 and are securely held in place while extending rearwardly of theattachment in a uniform projecting manner. The lower side of theassembly is temporarily covered by a sanitary masking strip or tape 20which may be peeled off at the time of usage of the attachment.

Referring to FIG. 3, the attachment may be produced in long sectionswithin any practical limits as indicated at 21 and the long section maybe cut to any desired use length with a scissors as indicated by thenumeral 22. When the attachment is to be utilized with the tray 10, asection is cut to length and the masking tape 20 is peeled off as inFIG. 3 and the under surfaces of the adhesive coated strips or tapes 15and 18 are simply pressed down onto the rear edge portion of the tray 10and will adhere thereto, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The claw-likeelements, which may be formed of nylon or like material, projectrearwardly and downwardly from the rear edge 13. When the fiowablematerial 14 passes rearwardly from the tray, FIG. 7, it will flow overthe elements 17 which embed themselves in the material while it is in asemi-solid state. The elements 17 will effectively support the materialwhile it is hardening and prevent the portion 14 from separating fromthe main mass 12 and entering the patients throat. After hardening theattachment becomes a permanent part of the molded unit.

Instead of the two adhesive strips 15 and 18, abovedescribed, theelements 17 may in some cases be molded into a single strip having athickened rear portion and the bottom surface of the single strip willthen be adhesive coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive and coveredby a temporary masking tape. The end result is exactly the same ineither case. The attachment may be packaged for use by dentists so as toprovide an adequate supply for the dental office. The various featuresand advantages of the invention should be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art without the need for further description.

What is claimed is:

1. A dental impression tray comprising in combination a tray bodyportion having a rear edge adapted to enter the mouth of the patient formaking a dental impression from a fiowable molding material placed onthe tray, a strip element secured to the tray body portion adjacent saidrear edge, and rearwardly and downwardly projecting claw-like elementsanchored to the strip element and overhanging said rear edge andsupporting excess fiowable molding material by becoming embedded thereinas such material oozes over said rear edge.

2. The structure of claim 1, and said strip element is an adhesivecoated element adhesively secured to the tray body portion.

3, The structure of claim 2, and said strip element includes a pair ofadhesive coated layers in opposing relationship and terminal endportions of the claw-like elements sandwiched and secured between thelayers.

4. An attachment for a dental impression tray to arrest the rearwardflow of semi-solid molding material so that such material will not enterthe throat of the patient, said attachment comprising a flexible stripbody portion having its underside coated with a pressure sensitiveadhesive, a masking strip secured to and temporarily protecting saidadhesive coated underside of the strip body portion, and multiple curvedlaterally spaced clawlike elements anchored to the strip body portionalong one longitudinal edge thereof and projecting in a uniform mannerbeyond said one longitudinal edge and below said underside.

5. The structure of claim 4, and said strip body portion and maskingstrip with said claw-like elements formed'in an indefinite lengthadapted to be cut off in desired use lengths by the user of theattachment.

6. The structure of claim 4, and said claw-like elements beingrelatively stiff resilient elements having straight shanks adhered tothe adhesive coated underside of the strip body portion.

7. The structure of claim 6, and said claw-like elements formed ofnylon.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 583,848 6/1897 Dunlap 32--17637,480 11/1899 Osgood -a 32-17 1,891,649 12/1932 Meurer 3217 3,473,22510/1969 Deuschle et al. 32-17 ROBERT PESHOCK, Primary Examiner

